Pubdate: Sat, 05 May 2001
Source: Associated Press
Copyright: 2000 Associated Press
Author: Andrew Selsky, Associated Press Writer

U.S. GREEN BERETS TRAIN COLOMBIANS

LARANDIA ARMY BASE, Colombia (AP) - U.S. Green Beret trainers watched 
proudly as Colombian troops reacted to an "ambush" with a withering blast 
of gunfire and by hurling hand grenades.

The aggressive response during training exercises - opened for the first 
time to journalists on Friday - was one the U.S. Special Forces have been 
instilling into their charges, who will soon combat drug trafficking in an 
area swarming with rebels and paramilitaries.

The battalion will finish its months-long training in this sprawling jungle 
base on May 24, and will join two other counternarcotics battalions - a 
total of 3,000 soldiers - that have been trained by the Green Berets since 
April 1999.

Amid criticism from human rights groups and even the U.S. State Department 
that Colombian security forces have a poor human rights record, the U.S. 
Embassy investigated each of the 3,000 soldiers to make sure they have not 
been accused of abuses or drug trafficking.

But they will likely be conducting joint anti-drug operations with 
Colombian counterguerrilla battalions which have not undergone such 
scrutiny - and which have a reputation of maintaining covert links with the 
paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which has been 
massacring suspected rebel collaborators.

Under a brooding gray sky, the Green Berets - from the 7th Special Forces 
Group based in Fort Bragg, N.C. - watched their students stealthily 
approach a mock drug lab manned by soldiers pretending to be rebels and 
peasant farmers who were processing coca leaves into cocaine.

The bit of Hollywood theatrics was eerie, considering that not far from the 
perimeter of this huge base in southern Caqueta state there are real coca 
labs guarded by rebels.

"We are troops of the counternarcotics battalion! You are completely 
surrounded," shouted one of the Colombian soldiers after his squad had 
closed in.

A "rebel" clad in a dark green uniform and black rubber boots opened fire, 
and was immediately cut down by the soldiers, who rushed into the muddy 
clearing. A furious exchange of gunfire, using blanks, ensued.

The U.S. trainers, clad in camouflage fatigues and wearing floppy "boonie" 
hats, said they try to instill "target discrimination" in their students, 
in the hope they will not blow away noncombatants in real action.

"That's the only thing we can do, really. When people are in the area we're 
expecting them to identify them before they shoot," explained a trainer. 
"It's not just spray - it's identify and then engage."

Army Gen. Mario Montoya, the commander of Colombia's southern region where 
the U.S.-trained battalions will be based, rejected allegations by human 
rights groups that some army units are fighting a dirty war against rebels.

"If we were as bloodthirsty as people say, the war would have been over by 
now - we would have killed all the bad guys," Montoya declared.

The newly trained troops will join the other two counternarcotics 
battalions in operations against coca plantations and drug labs, mostly in 
Putumayo and Caqueta states, which together produce more than 60 percent of 
Colombia's cocaine.

The U.S backing of Colombia's military, which has been fighting a 37-year 
war against rebels, has some critics suspecting the assistance is more 
geared at helping wipe out the rebellion instead of stemming drug trafficking.

Since the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - the biggest rebel group 
- - earns millions of dollars by protecting and taxing drug crops, as do the 
rival paramilitaries, the U.S.-trained troops will have wide clearance to 
launch attacks.

A U.S. military official based in Colombia, speaking on condition of 
customary anonymity, said the U.S.-trained troops can target any of the 
thousands of rebels and paramilitary gunmen in Putumayo and Caqueta, 
because he asserted they are there only to make money off the drug trade.

The anti-drug troops provide protection for low-flying fumigation planes 
and seek out and destroy drug labs. The two battalions have destroyed 
86,000 acres of coca and killed 52 "narcotraffickers" since December, 
Montoya said. He did not give a breakdown on how many of the dead were 
rebels and paramilitaries.

In the clashes, one officer, three non-commissioned officers and six 
privates have been slain, Montoya said.

Under the $1.3 billion U.S. aid package, 16 Blackhawk and 25 Super Huey 
helicopters will begin arriving in July for the counternarcotics battalions.

They will give the battalions far greater mobility and fire support, the 
U.S. military official said.

"We'll be able to double the rate of success we're having now, and that's a 
modest estimate," he predicted.
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